The Big Event, the largest one-day service project run by students in the nation, focuses on giving back to the residents in the Bryan-College Station community through various service projects. This year’s Big Event will kick off on March 24 and students can register to participate until Friday, Feb. 16.
According to Trent Armstrong, accounting senior and director of this year’s Big Event, The Big Event is a chance to act on Texas A&M’s core value of selfless service. Armstrong said the purpose of The Big Event is to assist as many residents as possible.
“I really just came to realize The Big Event represents much more than how many leaves we rake, or how many windows we wash,” Armstrong said. “What it truly means is to do something for someone else, and that small act can really make big differences. The Big Event is much more than the one day, but this idea that we are here to serve others, just kind of a way to give back”
Lauren Birtcher, recruitment officer and statistics junior, said the executive staff is trying to beat last year’s record of 22,000 registered volunteers.
“This year, we are really trying to spread to all corners of campus, because there may be organizations that might not have heard of [The Big Event,]” Birtcher said. “Typically, people don’t do it, not because they don’t want to, but because they don’t know about it. So we look at freshman and graduate students. They especially didn’t know that they could participate and didn’t know what it was. This year, we added bus advertisements just to try and put something out there to let people know who don’t really see it.”
Armstrong said The Big Event has made a noticeable impact worldwide, in countries such as China, Pakistan, Costa Rica and Germany.
“The Big Event started in 1982 and it has grown leaps and bounds to become the largest student run project in the world,” Armstrong said. “The idea has spread to over 175 universities nationwide and spread internationally. So what started here with Aggies really transformed universities and college towns across the world.”
Kyle O’Brien, economics senior and programs executive, said his first year participating in The Big Event left an incredible impression and inspired him to continue helping the community.
“Our whole mission statement is to say thank you to the community,” O’Brien said. “This is a opportunity for us to do that. Just coming in as a freshman, I kind of heard about it and was just encouraged by older people to get into it. My Big Event moment was the day of The Big Event and just seeing how big of an experience it is.”
Students can register to participate in The Big Event through their organizations, with friends or as individuals. The deadline to sign up is Friday, Feb. 16. The registration form can be found online at thebigevent.tamu.edu.